Life, the Universe, and everything

Wednesday, September 25, 2002

Jihad worldwide:
Pakistan. Two gunmen killed seven people in the offices of a Christian charity in
Karachi today. The victims were tied up and gagged before being shot at
point blank range.

Six of the victims died instantly and the seventh died in hospital
shortly afterwards. An eighth person was seriously wounded and a ninth person
was severely beaten up. The gunmen fled the scene and are being hunted by the
Pakistani police. It is unclear whether all the victims were Christians or if some
were Muslims. The charity is run by Pakistani Christians
and concentrates on social and justice issues. A recent issue of the
charity’s magazine was critical of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. It is thought likely
that the attackers are linked to extremist Islamic groups. When
police arrested 21 members of the Islamic militant group, Harakat ul-Mujahideen Al-Ami
recently, they found plans of Christian facilities in Karachi. Source.

Yesterday in India, at least 32 people were killed, as well as one National Security Guard commando, and more than 70 wounded in a terrorist attack. The attack, carried out by two Islamic terrorists, and subsequent 12-hour siege ended early Wednesday after elite commandos stormed the temple complex in Gujarat's capital city Gandhinagar and shot dead the gunmen.

Vajpayee praised the police and security officers involved in the incident and promised a 50,000 rupee payment to victim's families.

Saying that intelligence agencies has already begun investigations, the Indian leader pledged to act against the attack's perpetrators.

"Whatever I have seen, I will never be able to forget it. This is a temple, a sacred spot, no terrorist should be allowed here," Vajpayee said.

"When the blood dries, the stains will remain and there will be a challenge to us, that we have to fight and defeat terrorism and we will take everyone's cooperation for this." CNN.

Asia Times reports: The assets of Islamic banks in Indonesia reported an increase in assets to Rp3.45 trillion (US$1.5 billion) by August from Rp2.72 trillion in the first quarter of this year.
Head of the Syariah Banking Bureau of Bank Indonesia Harisman said Syariah banks, which extend loans under Koranic law, recorded a 35 percent increase in financing to Rp2.35 trillion in the same period August.

Finally:
If the Palestinian Authority has used even a single euro to purchase equipment used in military operations or suicide bombings, the European Union must immediately stop funding the PA, Francois Zimeray, a French delegate to the EU parliament, declared Wednesday.

Zimeray began a campaign on Tuesday to obtain the necessary signatures from parliament members to initiate a commission of inquiry into the EU's funding of the PA. He has already obtained 51 of the 157 signatures required to put the matter on the parliament's agenda.

"I think Europe bears a huge responsibility for what has happened in Israel over the past two years, because a large portion of European funds have been used for corruption, support of terrorist actions, and educating to hate," Zimeray said. "It's a crime to have let the Palestinians spend our money without any controls; it's a crime to have financed the teaching of hatred in the territories without monitoring what was taught; it's a crime against the victims, against the European ideology, and against peace."

Zimeray, a socialist MP from Rouen in Normandy affiliated with the European Labor Party, describes himself as one of the few defenders of Israel in a very anti-Israel parliament. Keep reading.

"From 1996 to 1998, I opened unofficial channels between Sudan and the Clinton administration. I met with officials in both countries, including Clinton, U.S. National Security Advisor Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger and Sudan's president and intelligence chief. President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, who wanted terrorism sanctions against Sudan lifted, offered the arrest and extradition of Bin Laden and detailed intelligence data about the global networks constructed by Egypt's Islamic Jihad, Iran's Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas.

Among those in the networks were the two hijackers who piloted commercial airliners into the World Trade Center.

The silence of the Clinton administration in responding to these offers was deafening.

As an American Muslim and a political supporter of Clinton, I feel now, as I argued with Clinton and Berger then, that their counter-terrorism policies fueled the rise of Bin Laden from an ordinary man to a Hydra-like monster.

Realizing the growing problem with Bin Laden, Bashir sent key intelligence officials to the U.S. in February 1996.

The Sudanese offered to arrest Bin Laden and extradite him to Saudi Arabia or, barring that, to "baby-sit" him--monitoring all his activities and associates.

But Saudi officials didn't want their home-grown terrorist back where he might plot to overthrow them.

In May 1996, the Sudanese capitulated to U.S. pressure and asked Bin Laden to leave, despite their feeling that he could be monitored better in Sudan than elsewhere."

Ijaz also claimed that he set up a deal that could have delivered Bin Laden into Clinton's hands in 2000 as well but let's stick to the 1996 deal because there is proof that Ijaz was telling the truth about it. What proof? Why the comments of Bill Clinton himself. Here's the transcript of Bill Clinton's comments to a February business luncheon on New York's Long Island...

"Mr. bin Laden used to live in Sudan. He was expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1991, then he went to Sudan.
"And we'd been hearing that the Sudanese wanted America to start meeting with them again - they released him.
"At the time, 1996, he had committed no crime against America so I did not bring him here because we had no basis on which to hold him, though we knew he wanted to commit crimes against America.
"So I pleaded with the Saudis to take him, 'cause they could have. But they thought it was a hot potato and they didn't and that's how he wound up in Afghanistan."

Newsmax was there and they recorded & transcribed Clinton's comments. They also have an MP3 available if you want to actually hear Clinton say the words.
Thanks to John Hawkins for posting this.

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

The Israeli murdered yesterday by Palestinian terrorists was Shlomo Yitzhak Shapira. Three of his sons were wounded.
Shlomo Yitzhak Shapira, 48, of Jerusalem, was killed and his sons aged eight, 12, and 18, were wounded when gunmen opened fire at the family near Hebron's Avraham Avinu neighborhood early Monday evening. The attackers then escaped into the nearby market.
Shapira died shortly after arriving at Hadassah-University Hospital in Ein Kerem. The youngest boy, Yehoshua, was seriously wounded; he underwent surgery for wounds to the hip and thigh, according to a hospital spokesman. His two brothers were in light-to-moderate condition.

Poll: 70% of Palestinians support Iraq against USThe Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO) asked 1,085 Palestinian adults if they agree that "Palestinians ought to support Iraq as they did in 1991, if the United States of America strikes it again." Of those polled, 41.4% strongly agreed and 30.4% somewhat agreed (71.8% combined), compared to 9.2% who strongly disagreed and 8.4% who somewhat disagreed (17.6% combined). Another 10.6% had no opinion. The poll has a 2.98% margin of error.

Arafat's thugs are out to intimidate any Palestinian that they see as a threat to his regime.

Today masked Palestinian gunmen fired at the house of former Palestinian Minister Nabil Abu Amr in Ramallah.
Abu Amr, former Palestinian minister for parliamentary affairs, openly criticized Arafat and was reportedly involved in efforts to appoint a Palestinian prime minister to share power with him.
The attack came hours after the armed wing of Fatah, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, issued a statement threatening to kill any PA official who holds contacts with Israel over the establishment of a new leadership.
"At a time when our people are supporting Arafat, here comes a group of Palestinian collaborators who are trying to impose an alternative leadership with Israeli and American backing," said the statement.
The statement named Amr as one of the "traitors" trying to create a new leadership. It warned that the gunmen of the brigades would "deal" with him and his like if they insist on pursuing their plan.

Nabil Amr, criticized Arafat bluntly in a letter published in Al Hayat: "We have committed a serious mistake against our people, authority, and the dream of the establishment of our state." "What have we done with the money? What have we done with the bureaucracy? We did not put in place strict laws governing the relationship between the authority and the people. Instead, Mr. President, we descended into tackling this process with the mentality of people dividing the spoils. We didn't form a single committee to study the qualifications of those whom we appointed to senior positions or even junior ones. We didn't take into consideration when we formed our cabinets any professional considerations. We returned to tribalism as a basic element."
And finally, "Didn't we dance for joy at the failure of Camp David?" the letter asked rhetorically. "Didn't we throw dirt in the face of [US] president Bill Clinton, who dared to propose a state with some amendments? Were we sincere about what we did? Were we right in what we did? No, we were not. After two years of bloodshed, we are now calling for what we rejected. Perhaps because now we realize that it is impossible to achieve."

Akram Muhammad al-Zatma, the Palestinian student suspected of informing Israel of the whereabouts of Hamas arch terrorist Salah Shehadeh minutes before he was killed, was found shot to death in Gaza City yesterday.
Zatma was arrested in late July by the Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security Service and reportedly held in detention until yesterday.
Attorney Nitzana Darshan-Leitner, who had offered to defend him before a PA court, charged that Gaza security chief Rashid Abu Shabak turned Zatma over to Hamas gunmen on Monday night, and that he was summarily executed. His body was found in a garbage dump with several bullet holes in his head.
According to Darshan-Leitner, "The gangland style murder of Zatma was carried out jointly by the Gaza security police and Hamas. Gaza security boss Rashid Abu Shabak proudly displayed the young student at a press conference and then permitted Hamas to murder him in cold blood without even a sham trial."

A senior aide to Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmed Qurei was arrested Monday by Jerusalem police for making threats to Jerusalem Post reporter Khaled Abu Toameh over a news report. Read Khaled's story.One excerpt:
Intimidation of journalists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is not a new phenomenon but not all choose to tell the story.
Through this experience, I have once again been reminded of the risks involved in working as a newsman in the PA-controlled territories.
Journalists covering events in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are sometimes faced with life-threatening situations, especially over the past two years. That's why many of them, particularly foreign TV crews, prefer to use armored vehicles. A stray bullet fired by an over-cautious IDF soldier or a Fatah gunman is the nightmare of many journalists driving around in these territories.
But what many don't realize is that the real danger comes not from the bullets of an M-16 or AK-47 assault rifle. Rather, it comes from attempts by certain elements in the PA to intimidate journalists who are only trying to carry out their jobs in a professional manner.
There has been a slight improvement over the past few years in the PA's record regarding the freedom of the press. But there are still some in the PA who believe that a journalist's job is first to be "loyal to the cause" and then to report the truth.
It becomes even more complicated and dangerous if, like myself, you are an Arab journalist working with the foreign or Israeli media. Then you are expected to be an "obedient servant" or a "soldier" in the war of propaganda. You are expected to tell the truth only if it sounds and looks convenient and appropriate. Otherwise, you could be risking your life.
Unfortunately, some PA officials (especially those who returned from Tunis and Lebanon), have almost no understanding of the real role of the media. As far as they are concerned, the Palestinian media should not be different from those in the Arab world official organs for the rulers and their regimes.

Monday, September 23, 2002

Khaled Abu Toameh, one of my favorite reporters, is under threat of death by Arafat's thugs.
Abu Toameh is an Israeli citizen and East Jerusalem resident. He is an Arab. He has written many articles on the corruption and brutality of Arafat's Palestinian Authority.

The story:A senior aide to Palestinian legislative speaker Ahmed Qurie (Abu Ala) was detained Monday by Jerusalem police on suspicion that he threatened to kill a Jerusalem Post reporter who refused to divulge the source of a story.
Salah Elayan, an Israeli-Arab who is the head of Qurie's bureau, was picked up by police in his Jerusalem home in Beit Safafa Monday afternoon in the wake of a complaint lodged with police by Post Palestinian affairs correspondent Khaled Abu Toameh.
Abu Toameh filed the complaint against Elayan with police on Sunday night, after Elayan repeatedly threatened him by phone
following an article he wrote in Sunday's Post...
"I have covered Palestinians affairs for nearly two decades, and I was really shocked because this is the first time ever that I have received a direct threat,"
said Toameh who is an Israeli citizen and a resident of east Jerusalem.
"Imagine what would happen if I lived in Nablus and published such an article, I presume they would hang me in the main square," Toameh said.

Today: One Israeli was killed and three children were wounded Monday when a Palestinian terrorist opened fire on a crowd of Israelis visiting the city of Hebron.
One of the victims who was critically wounded in the attack later died of his wounds in the hospital.
Of the wounded, one child was seriously wounded and two others were moderately hurt . They have been evacuated to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem. All four victims are from the same family.

This is what it is like. When the smoke cleared from the explosion, Jacob Heyn saw a heart still beating lying on the sidewalk amidst the shattered glass. "There was no body, just a heart beating. I didn't think such a thing could happen. But I saw it and others saw it," he said.
At about 1 p.m. yesterday the 87-year-old had been standing with his son in front of a bookstore his family owns on Rehov Allenby in Tel Aviv. The store was filled with displays of children's books. It was a normal day on a busy street. He noticed nothing out of the ordinary until a suicide bomber blew himself up while standing on the stairs of a No. 4 Dan bus as it moved down the street. Five people were killed, including the bus driver, and more than 60 were wounded.

"Glass shards fell on me," Heyn said. "I was covered with smoke and dust. I looked to see what happened to me, but I was not hurt. The bus continued to travel a short distance. A body was lying on the sidewalk. Later someone told me the man was dead. I saw a man walking covered with blood. Then the ambulances came. I went into the store. People there were frightened. They were hysterical and crying." Keep reading.

Jew haters went on a bit of a rampage this past week, unimpeded by any serious media attention. Twenty Muslims attacked two Jews with metal pipes in LA screaming "Kill the Jews!" Imagine the media circus if those attacked were Arabs instead of Jews, and if the screams were "Kill the Arabs" instead of "Kill the Jews!"

It took the LA Times a full week to bother covering the story.
Disgusting.

If you are Jewish and haven't already had martial arts training - go get some. An LGF poster recommends Jujitsu or Krav Maga and I whole heartedly agree. Krav Maga is all about function - you will learn how to get yourself out of a bad situation in the first few lessons. Don't wait - the writing is on the wall and NOBODY WILL PROTECT YOU.

INDONESIA:
Police have ordered the closure of two churches in Cikarang Barat, West
Java. The buildings of the two churches were sealed by the authorities on Friday 6
September. The reason given for the closures was that local people objected to the church buildings
and activities of the Christians.
These latest closures follow the closure of four church buildings in
nearby Cikarang Baru in July. Additionally, two church buildings near Bandung, West Java, that
were undergoing renovations and being extended, have been forced to close down, and a
church building in the Malang district of East Java has also been closed by the local
authorities there.
In each case local objections have been cited as the reason for closure. However,
Christians involved in these situations believe that extremist Islamic groups, who are
opposed to Christian activities in these areas, are orchestrating the
objections and complaints. Local officials deny this and claim it is merely a matter
of obtaining the necessary permit to use a building for religious activities.
“This step of prohibition (sic) churches has shown that in a democratic
country – Indonesia, there is no freedom of religion.” Was the comment of one Christian
affected by these closures.

PAKISTAN:Islamic militants in Pakistan are threatening further attacks against Christian targets. Meanwhile, detained extremists reveal they had targeted a series of churches.